Despite Vietnam’s growing importance in international migration and the increasing numbers of reports about harmful detention practices, to date the country’s immigration enforcement regime has not been adequately scrutinised by international human rights monitoring bodies. In this submission, the GDP and APRRN urge the CCPR to take steps to ensure that Vietnam is aware of its binding legal responsibilities concerning migrants in the country, especially with respect to ICCPR Articles 2, 9, 10, 13, and 14. […]
Asia-Pacific
Kazakhstan: Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee
In recent years, the treatment of migrant workers in Kazakhstan–which has included widespread raids, detentions, and deportations; the targeting of foreigners in response to social unrest; inadequate compensation to migrant victims of torture; and efforts to remove persons to countries where they risk serious risk of harm–has attracted increased criticism. […]
Immigration Detention in Taiwan: Detention “Shelters,” International Isolation, Growing Migration Pressures
December 2024: Immigration detention is an important tool of immigration control in Taiwan, where detainee numbers have steadily risen in recent years. Although conditions in Taiwan’s detention centres have frequently been criticised, they have received little international scrutiny because of China’s opposition to Taiwan’s UN membership. Taiwan also lacks an asylum system, though the need […]
Detention “Shelters,” International Isolation, Growing Migration Pressures
Although conditions in Taiwan’s detention centres have frequently been criticised, they have received little international scrutiny because of China’s opposition to Taiwan’s UN membership. […]
Thailand: “Champion Country” or Abusive Detainer of Migrant Children and Asylum Seekers?
Thailand’s recent decision to withdraw its reservation to a key provision in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child appears to support its status as a “champion country” of the Global Compact for Migration. However, many rights observers say Thailand continues to detain children—as well as other at-risk migrants and refugees—in often paltry, […]
Persistent Reports of Severe Human Rights Violations in Malaysia’s Immigration Detention Centres
Malaysia has been repeatedly criticised for having one of the world’s most abusive and punitive immigration detention systems. Yet the government continues to fail to address the international community’s recommendations to protect vulnerable migrants and refugees in the country, as the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) recently reported in a […]
Pakistan: UNHCR and IOM Report Massive Spike in Detention Rates
Pakistan is one of the world’s largest refugee-hosting countries, with the majority of refugees coming from Afghanistan. The country has not implemented a national asylum system and it is not a party to the UN Refugee Convention. There have been numerous reports of refugees being arrested during raids, arbitrarily detained, and summarily deported. In 2023, […]
Viet Nam: Immigration Detention as Debtors Prison
There is little information available about Viet Nam’s immigration detention practices though people on online chat rooms and social media platforms have an occasion expressed dismay at the country’s “harsh” treatment of overstayers. There have also been reports about periodic crackdowns on irregular Chinese migrants, who are detained, fined, and then deported back to China, as well as of harassment and […]
![Many inmates of Thu Duc prison worked as labourers, securing reductions in their sentences. But some are still in detention over alleged unpaid debts [Chris Humphrey/Al Jazeera]](https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Vietnam-prison-hard-labour.jpg.webp)
Immigration Detention in Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China): Severe Detention Regimes and Paltry Conditions
Detention is a key immigration enforcement measure in Hong Kong, despite the fact that detention facilities have long been criticised for poor conditions and complaints of mistreatment. […]
Mass Escape from Malaysian Detention Centre Highlights Need for Reforms
On 1 February, 131 (mainly Rohingya) refugees escaped from an immigration detention centre in the Malaysian state of Perak following reported riots in the facility, called the Bidor Temporary Immigration Depot. This is the second mass escape in two years from a Malaysian detention centre, which observers say underscores the inhumane conditions that immigration detainees […]
